Thousands of vulnerable children in care are being failed by a system that has seen a sex attacker placed with an abuse victim and one teenager moved 31 times, inspectors have said.

Thousands of vulnerable children in care are being failed by a system that has seen a sex attacker placed with an abuse victim and one teenager moved 31 times, inspectors have said.

The “distressing” report into looked-after children being supervised away from their homes by Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) was carried out by education watchdogs Estyn and Ofsted along with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP).

They found many of the children faced “extremely poor” futures and added “the fact of being looked-after could escalate a child into the criminal justice system”.

The inspectors looked at 60 children in six regions in a joint inspection into the work of YOTs with children placed away from home.

Chief inspector of probation Liz Calderbank said she was shocked by the “distressing” findings, saying that “shipping” children over 50 miles away made offending “inevitable” in some cases.

She said: “The system is failing in terms of how it trying to look after them.”

In one example, a 16-year-old boy had been moved 31 times since coming into care at the age of three, including one placement which lasted less than 24 hours.

Another example revealed a Welsh child who had been in care since he was four because both parents had long-term heroin addiction.

He spent most of his time in care in Wales, living near his mother, enabling a relationship with her he valued. But when he was moved to England he was reported missing 37 times in four months.

One 16-year-old girl said: “No one truly cares about me. They get paid to care but they don’t really.”

In another case, a 13-year-old girl, a victim of sexual exploitation, was found having sex with a 15-year-old boy in a children’s home. Sexual videos of her were later found on his mobile.

Around a third of children were placed more than 100 miles away from home and nearly two-thirds were placed 50 miles away, but regulations require local authorities to allow children to live near their home, as far as reasonably practicable.

A fifth of the children had themselves been a victim of crime while under supervision of the YOT and just over half had offended in care.

In a joint foreword to the report, Ann Keane, HM Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales said: “The aspirations that many workers, across all services, had for looked-after children were often woefully low.

“The fact they were away from their home areas and were moved frequently militated against their chances of rehabilitation. Their lives were fragmented; links with family and friends were often disrupted, as were their education and training opportunities.”

A spokeswoman for Estyn said: “We contributed to the inspection of the work of the Youth Offending Teams (YOTS) which was led by HMI Probation.

“Estyn looks at the provision in Wales with a particular focus on education and training services for young people with offending behaviour.

“Estyn will continue to work with HMI probation and Ofsted to monitor the work with these young people.”

Liberal Democrat AM Peter Black, who is also a Swansea councillor, said: “It’s long been known a lack of stability caused by constant changes in circumstances and emotional challenges for looked-after children can impede their social development and lead them into trouble in later life. That’s why pioneering work carried out by Swansea Council in this field is so valuable as it led to better outcomes. Local councils need to work better with other agencies to ensure children taken into care have the emotional support they need from an early stage and that there is minimal disruption to their parenting and schooling.”

“That’s a big ask and will require more resources and better co-ordination by statutory authorities but it’s essential if we are to improve the life chances of those taken into care.”

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “It’s completely unacceptable some councils and homes are letting down children by failing to act as a proper ‘parent’.

“It’s essential local authorities provide the vital support they need to keep them safe and well and to encourage their potential.

“Where children are offenders, this will include working with Youth Offending services to prevent any re-offending.

“Three expert groups are currently developing proposals to improve the care provided by children’s homes. They are due to report back shortly and we will respond on the action we intend to take in the New Year.”

Keith Towler, the Children’s Commissioner for Wales said he had been involved in work to improve responses to young people at risk of entering the youth justice system since before he became Commissioner.

He said: “One of the core principles at the time when it came to establishing appropriate intervention, support for resettlement and the reduction of reoffending was to treat young offenders ‘as children first, offenders second’.

“This is as relevant now as it was eight years ago.

“My recent responses to the Social Services (Wales) Bill and the Green Paper on preventing youth offending makes reference to the importance of ensuring all agencies understand this principle that we should be treating them ‘as children first, offenders second’.

“The work of youth offending teams should be viewed as an additional support in relation to offending behaviour and not as an alternative to mainstream support services.”

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: “Let down by families and local authorities alike, with a trail of failed placements and further and further from home, far too many children find themselves on the dreary, damaging route from care to custody.

“Too often, the state proves to be a poor parent as the tiny minority of children in care become the substantial number behind bars.”

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